


Her Guardian

by CosmicCthulhu



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Future Fic, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Pining Draco Malfoy, Short & Sweet, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:47:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29722290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicCthulhu/pseuds/CosmicCthulhu
Summary: Draco wants to apologise and make amends with Granger, but her old and grumpy familiar is making things hard for him.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 10
Kudos: 170
Collections: The Dramione Collection





	Her Guardian

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as a gift and a token of appreciation for my dog! She’s turning 15 tomorrow and she is pretty much the love of my life and my most loyal friend!
> 
> I appreciate all comments and kudos I get!
> 
> English is not my first language, and this work is unbeta'd so all errors are my own.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter franchise.

Crookshanks is, above all else, her guardian.

When Hermione saw him dozing off in a quiet corner of the old Magical Menagerie, she was instantly taken by his comforting, yet confident appearance, despite the fact that no one seemed to be interested in taking him home. The store owner even admitted that he had been living there for quite some time, and not even the proprietor was sure how old the old half-kneazle was, only that he was already a senior cat.

For Hermione, it didn’t matter that he was old, she was too enthralled by his presence to ignore the urge of taking him back with her to take care of him as a pet.  _ A friend. _

Ron and Harry would often make fun of Crookshanks.

Both because of his supposedly horrendous appearance ( _which Hermione knew it was a lie, he was a very handsome cat and these comments probably stemmed from jealousy, anyway_ ) and his arrogant and aggressive disposition ( _another misunderstanding, the animal had merely been protective and soon proved himself to be a good judge of character, which was even recognized by the pair afterwards_ ).

But no matter what anyone else thought of him, Hermione would always love Crookshanks and it was clear that Crookshanks would always love Hermione. 

That fact remained true all throughout her school days, when he protected, comforted and even helped her all throughout her school days. And when the war loomed in and Hermione had to keep him with the Weasleys in the Burrow, Molly had confessed that the animal had cried and grieved all day until they were finally reunited at last.

\-----

When Hermione returned to Hogwarts to complete her education, after the war was truly over and the light had prevailed once and for all, Crookshanks returned to her arms and seemed to double his efforts to protect his charge.

He would follow the witch wherever she went, scouring the hallways, rooms, alcoves and every nook and cranny of the castle, looking for any possible threats that could bother or harm the brunette.

And as a creature of habit, Hermione would often spend hours on the library, catching up with her studies, and her faithful cat would be right beside her, feigning sleep, but clearly alert and ready to come up for protection and comfort, should she need it.

Any person that dared to come close to the pretty brunette needed to first captivate the surly familiar, or else, they would be promptly attacked by a well-delivered pouce, followed by sharp claws and loud hissing coming from the animal.  The few friends that had managed to gain the trust of the fierce miniature lion, would often joke that the animal had become the most fierce guard dog in existence. And the cat would puff up his chest in pride at their comments, showing that he was very aware of his status as her guardian.

Hermione would often laugh at these remarks. Crookshanks was as loyal as a dog, that much was for certain. But he wasn’t the overprotective terror everyone made him out to be!

He was just a good cat, enjoying the company of his witch and making sure that she was alright after a difficult and stressful year apart. And well, if half-kneazles were good judges of characters (as Crooks had already proved himself to be), then there was nothing wrong with having him as a little sentry by her side to make sure that she was surrounded by only the best and kindest people in school.

\-----

Draco stood on the edge of the library, hiding behind one of the tall desks and watching the girl sitting on her favourite desk with a scowl. She was reading a thick textbook and writing down several notes on her parchment with an adorable smile playing on her lips, and it enhanced his desire to come closer and finally talk to her.

But of course, the blasted ginger cat was there right by her side, standing on top of a pile of books and observing the surroundings like a furry and angry gargoyle. This was their ritual, just like it was now part of the blond man’s routine to watch Granger studying whilst trying to come up with a plan to talk to her.

He’s been trying to approach her for weeks now. Pretty much since the first day of term he had tried to get a hold of Granger, with no success.

He just wanted to talk to her! And to ask for forgiveness and to make amends, maybe to try to forge a friendship, too. And well, he really just wanted to at least be able to sit close enough to her so that he could appreciate the beauty she had become.

But the first time Draco tried to walk up and talk to her, he was attacked and mauled by the gnarly cat before he could even make his presence known. 

The blasted thing near gouged his eye out and yet Granger didn’t even dignify herself to look up at the comotion, as she was either too enthralled by her book or too accustomed by the cat’s reaction to actually be startled and move to interfere.

Either way, Draco needed to get away from the beast before he was killed in the most undignified manner.

After that initial disaster, the blond decided he needed to make a plan to get rid of the feral guard dog disguised as a cat before he could properly convey his feelings to Granger.

So he tried to distract him by releasing rats and pigeons and spiders in the library, and though he could see his pupils dilate and his tail switch and his hindquarters tremble, the cat never truly left his tower of books, always coming with the final decision of standing by his charge.

Then, he tried to offer him treats, catnip, and gifts, but they were all promptly ignored by him in favor of staying by his owner’s side. 

He also tried to frighten it away by throwing water, startling hexes and loud noises, but it only served to anger the beast and elicit a deeper feeling of protectiveness over the witch, that would often be as confused as the cat whenever these random attacks occurred.

Draco even tried to throw him cute female half-kneazle in heat, to see if the old Tom would be interested in getting some action on the romantic department of his life, but all his infatuation and attention was completely directed at the witch that remained somehow oblivious to the man’s desperate attempts of conversation.

One day, in yet another incessant trial, the man walked to Hermione’s usual spot in the library with a sigh and resignation and out of ideas on how to deal with the cat. Instead, he decided to trust what the several books say about the intelligence of half-kneazles and see if he can actually  _ convince _ the beast that he had good intentions.

Draco only hoped he wouldn’t look like a complete fool by trying to talk to an  _ animal. _

He approached the desk and watched Crookshanks dozing off in his tall tower of books, as always. To the wizard’s surprise, however, Granger was nowhere in sight, supposedly having left the desk ( _and her familiar_ ) temporarily alone.

As luck would have it, this was the perfect opportunity to talk to the bloody cat, actually.

He made his presence known by stomping on the ground and waking the ginger beast up, that was now disgruntled and angry at him for interrupting his dreams of chasing mice and entitled blond brats. 

Draco was startled by the loud yowl the animal let out, and for a second, he feared that his perfect skin was once again going to be marred and clawed by the beast. 

“Look,” he started with his empty hands held up high to show that he was unarmed, and was impressed when the cat didn’t immediately pounce. “I just want to talk to Granger, tell her that I’m sorry, okay?” 

Crookshanks, like he had done so many times before, had bristled his fur and stood on the tips of his toes to make himself bigger and menacing, at first. But after a minute of nothing (no underhanded tactics of bribery nor threats or any other sort of creative plan to get him away from his witch), the cat relaxed, and allowed the man to approach.

Draco felt ridiculous to be talking to a cat like it was a person, but the animal lifted his head and cocked his head as if he was now curious to hear what he had to say.

“I know you want to protect her, and I know that I haven’t really deserved yours and not even hers trust,” the animal nodded in agreement, to his surprise. “But this is why I’m here! To talk to Granger and tell her that I-- that I was wrong! I was wrong about so many things. And I’m an idiot for not realizing it sooner.”

“She’s a brilliant witch, you know? And brave, but also so very kind, too. She’s the most powerful witch I know and I used to deny that because I was envious and I was angry at her for being better than me, which is ridiculous now that I’ve said this out loud,” he laughed mirthlessly to himself, but Crookshanks remained calmly looking at him, as if inviting him to continue his praise of the curly-haired girl. 

“I tormented her when we were younger, and she suffered through unimaginable pain because of my family and I know that even a thousand apologies won’t be enough to undo the damage,” the wizard had sat down on the desk and his hands were now covering his face while he tried to come to terms with all that had happened and how much he wanted to fix it. 

“But I want to change and I want to do better and I need to tell Granger how much I’m sorry and how much I actually admire her. I wish I could talk to her, show her that I’m no longer the boy that she had the displeasure to meet! Please, Crookshanks, this is important to me.  _ Hermione _ is important to me!”

The half-kneazle was standing still, looking down on the now desperate man that now had his clothes considerably more rumpled than before. The animal had his head held up high, sniffing the air and blinking slowly, as if pondering all of the wizard’s confessions.

If Draco had the ability to read the mind of an animal, he was sure that he’d be able to see Crookshanks picturing himself as a god and the blond as a mere penitent man, asking for forgiveness for his sins. 

Not that it was far from the actual situation ( _Draco was still a man trying to repent and cats were once veneered as gods in ancient times and far away lands_ ), of course, but it was still a very odd picture to think about.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, Crookshanks, with his tail held up high, like an aristocratic and haughty judge, got down from his perch at the tower of books, to invade the spot on the table where Draco was hunched over and to nudge the man’s arm and chest with his head, whilst closing his eyes. 

“That means he trusts you,” Draco heard the familiar soft voice coming from behind him. He turned abruptly, with the purring cat now in his arms and looked at Granger with horror in his silvery eyes.

“How much of that did you hear?”

“Pretty much all of it,” she shrugged, but had a brilliant and soft smile on her face. “I’ve forgiven you a long time ago, Draco. I’m tired of living in the past, and the war was rough on all of us.”

“But I still need to apologise. I need to make something good, for once in my life.”

“You gained Crooks’ trust,” Hermione laughed when the cat bellowed in protest, but remained snuggled on the man’s chest. “Not many people can do that, you know? It means you’re a good person.”

Draco didn’t argue with her, though he doubted the cat’s judge of character could be as infallible as she claimed.

The wizard was too delighted by her words and her forgiveness to actually think of anything else to say. To further his surprise, Hermione sat by his side, taking the now dozing Crookshanks in her own arms and casually asking him if he had done the Transfigurations assignment they had received a week before.

The gesture was clear. It was the proverbial olive branch. An offer of friendship that Draco would have to be an idiot to pass up.

With an easy and sincere smile, he started to talk about the assignment, offering some insights and promising her that they could work it out together, just like they could work with many other things.

Crookshanks, for his part, now had two charges to protect.

\-----

_ Ten years later. _

Scorpius was crying loudly on his crib calling one more for his parents in the middle of the night.

Draco stirred awake and stopped his wife from also getting up, assuring her that he was perfectly capable of taking care of their demanding child. He kissed her hair and coaxed her to go back to sleep and rest up, while he checked on their son.

When he entered the nursery, he couldn’t stop himself from forming an adoring smile at the sight of the little baby that had been born six months ago. 

“Hey, sprog,” he cooed softly to his child, approaching the crib and taking Scorpius in his arms. 

To his surprise, he heard the familiar and disgruntled yowling coming from his side, and when he looked, Crookshanks was there, with bristled fur and a menacing look on his face, standing on the windowsill nearby and loyally guarding his newest charge. 

“It’s just me, you old fool,” Draco laughed and instantly the cat relaxed at the sound of his voice. The wizard scratched the back of his ear and smiled when he heard the loud purrs in return.

Though his vision had grown poorer, his claws had grown duller and his fur had grown silvery-grey from his old age, the half-kneazle was still as lively and brave as he had ever been, never straying from his mission of protecting his family and loved ones.

After all, Crookshanks is, above all else, their guardian.


End file.
